It's official. Former Joliet Central football coach Mike Maloney accepts the head varsity football job at Johnsburg High School in northeastern Illinois located near Fox Lake.

"I'm pleased to formally announce that the Board of Education in Johnsburg School District 12 officially approved my employment at a meeting last night," Maloney stated in a statement to the Sports Nest. "I'm very excited about the potential that this program holds and will be working very diligently to progress the Skyhawk program to a point where they are highly respected in the State of Illinois for their relentless effort and physical toughness."

Maloney accepted the head coach position at Joliet Central when the schools athletic program was split from the previously combined program with Joliet West in 2010 and struggled to build a program from scratch over the past two seasons. The Steelmen have yet to win a game since the division going 0-18 under Maloney but has made steady progress in the weight room and on the field in perhaps the toughest conference in Illinois the Southwest Suburban Blue which boasts 2011/12 Class 8A state champion Bolingbrook.

Just over three months after bringing the NAIA National Championship trophy back to Chicago, the Saint Xavier University football team gets back to business this week with the start of spring practice sessions. The Cougars will get four weeks of spring practices in before holding its annual Scarlet-Gray Spring Scrimmage on Saturday, April 28, at 11 a.m. at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field in Chicago. The scrimmage is free and open to the public. SXU also recently posted its 2012 football schedule online and there are plenty of home dates that Cougar fans should be circling on their calendars. These include a 6 p.m. home opener on Saturday, September 8, against Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) crossover rival University of St. Francis (Ill.); a tough "Homecoming Game" battle against MSFA Mideast League rival University of Saint Francis (Ind.) and a rematch of last season's epic NAIA Championship Series semifinals game against MSFA Mideast League foe and No. 3 ranked Marian University (Ind.).

Joliet Central head varsity coach Mike Maloney has stepped down from his position to take a new coaching job at an undisclosed high school further North until an April 10th board meeting at his new district approves his hire.

Coach Maloney accepted perhaps the toughest 8A coaching position in all of Illinois starting a new program after the team was split from a combined Joliet West team in 2009 and began working to recruit athletes from the hallways of the storied school.

During his two seasons as Steelmen head coach Maloney, a Joliet Catholic graduate and former offensive lineman for the University of Illinois, failed to win a game however he won the hearts and minds of his players and the community at large.

JOLIET --- Joe Curry has experienced both the highs and lows of University of St. Francis football during his 11-year association with the program. As a player, he only had the opportunity to celebrate eight victories, while suffering through 24 defeats not to mention the program's only winless season. As a coach, it has run the gamut from a one-win season to this past year's historic postseason march and school-record 10-win campaign.

Curry will now have the opportunity to take the 26-year-old program to even bigger heights after USF director of athletics Dave Laketa announced on Monday that the 33-year-old former St. Francis defensive lineman has been named to succeed Mike Uremovich as the program's fourth head coach.

"I strongly recommended Joe Curry for the position over a month ago after having an in-depth dialogue with him following Mike's departure, but it is our University's policy to make certain that he truly is the best candidate for the position by conducting a national search," noted Laketa. "At the end of the day, when we took everything into consideration from recruiting, to coaching, to working with both our current players and alumni, to running the program the right way, Joe Curry was a unanimous choice of the search committee as well as everyone he interviewed with on campus to be our next head coach. He was also favored by our returning players, which is most important."

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis men’s volleyball junior opposite hitter Ian Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) and junior libero Eric Varney (Oak Park, Calif./Oak Park/Moorpark CC) have swept the weekly Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association awards. Karbiener has been named the MIVA Offensive Player of the Week. Varney earned the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week selection.

Lewis’ only match last week was a 37-35, 25-19, 25-20 decision over then No. 12 Loyola. The win broke a six-match losing streak to the Ramblers for the No. 7 Flyers.

Karbiener totaled 14 kills and hit .407 (14-3-27) against the Ramblers. He also tallied six digs, a pair of block assists and an ace to average 5.33 points-per-set. With his 14-kill effort, Karbiener climbed to 10th in the MIVA with a 2.85 kills-per-set average for the season. In league play, he ranks fourth in the MIVA in kills-per-set (4.27) and seventh in hitting percentage (.381).

High school football players must sit out one play next year if their helmet comes off while the ball is live.

In cases where the helmet comes completely off without it being directly attributable to a foul by the opponent, the player will have to leave the game for at least one down.

This addition to Rule 3-5-10 was one of eight rules changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its January 20-22 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“The committee made this rules change after reviewing data from multiple states regarding the frequency of helmets coming off during live-ball play,” said Julian Tackett, chair of the Football Rules Committee and commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. “It is the committee’s hope that this serves notice for schools to properly fit players with helmets to reduce the incidence of these situations and remind the players not to take steps that alter the fit.”

Mike Uremovich is climbing the ladder.

The seven-year head coach of the University of St. Francis met with school officials Friday afternoon to inform them that he has accepted a position as the special teams coordinator at NCAA I Northern Illinois University. He made the announcement to his team a few hours later.

"It has always been a dream of mine to go back to NIU and I am thankful to (NIU head coach) Dave Doeren for this opportunity," said Uremovich, who served as a graduate assistant coach in the Huskies program in both 2001 and 2002. "Dave is a great coach, runs a great program from top to bottom and has a tremendous staff."

Uremovich begins his new job on Wednesday.

"I can't say that this came as a surprise," said USF director of athletics Dave Laketa. "It did in the sense that it came (Friday), but I knew that Mike was going to walk in my office sooner rather than later. He was too good of a coach not to have opportunities at bigger schools."

"Just as I was excited to hire him as our coach seven years ago, I am equally excited for him, his wife Katie and his three children now. What a great opportunity for them, while still being able to be close to their families."

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) has officially begun accepting State Final Hosting Bids for its Football State Finals and Dance State Finals, respectively, as the IHSA released the Site Proposal Specifications for both events to interested venues on January 18.

The IHSA Football State Finals annually play out each November with eight championship games on the Friday (1A-4A) and Saturday (5A-8A) of Thanksgiving weekend. The University of Illinois has hosted the games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign since 1999, but a change in the Big 10 schedule has prompted the IHSA to find a host for the title games in odd years beginning in 2013. The Site Proposal Specifications seek a host for five seasons (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021). Memorial Stadium will continue to host the games in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020.

The IHSA will hold its inaugural Dance State Final on Friday and Saturday, January 25-26, 2013. The IHSA is seeking a five-year hosting contract for Dance as well, spanning from 2013 through 2017.

Ever since Dan Sharp returned to Joliet Catholic Academy as head football coach, the Hilltoppers have produced a steady stream of NCAA Division I recruits, ranging from J.R. Zwierzynski and Mike Kolodziej to Chris Jeske to brothers Chris and Nick Clancy to the current crop of Malin Jones and Ty Isaac.

Just to name a few.

Part of the credit goes to God-given ability and talent. Part of the credit goes to the impact of the school’s athletic legacy – “God, Country, Joliet Catholic” – with an IHSA-best 13 state championships in football bringing with it a heightened exposure. And part of the credit goes to streamlining the process.

“I laugh when coaches say, ‘I got this kid a scholarship,’” said Sharp, a 1974 graduate of JCA. “Because coaches really don’t. Players get themselves the scholarships. All we can do as coaches is to help them get the opportunities, get them the exposure, show them what is out there and then try to guide them.”